Rolling with It

Janna Hockenjos blogs about growing up with her father's TBI

My name is Janna Hockenjos, and my father has a traumatic brain injury. Growing up with a parent who has a brain injury is not divorce or death or abuse. It’s no one’s fault and when you try to tack blame on a place or a person, it doesn’t work. Family dynamics flip, roles change, relationships dissolve — the confusion is paralyzing. At some point you realize you have a choice: roll with it and grow up into someone you didn’t know you’d be or isolate yourself and get the heck outta Dodge as soon as you can.

I chose to roll.

Now, I’m fresh into my thirties. I’ve suffered and survived my strange loss of innocence. I’ve discovered how to find acceptance and love. I’ve learned there are no guarantees and there is always change. I’m still here, and I invite you to roll with me. Learn more about Janna >

The Latest from Janna

What do you need? You, meaning you reading this blog. Because I promise that there is a way that a yoga practice can give you part of what you need—if not all of it. And I rarely make promises. Ask me. Test me. Try me.

An accident happens. A brain injury rocks your world, and not in a good way. Fear rises like a tide, and soon enough, a tidal wave of anxiety. Janna offers a simple yoga practice to calm the "what ifs."

Without yoga, I would have let go of hope or a future. Without yoga, I would have stayed sad and angry forever. Of all the tools in your box of living with brain injury, I want yoga to be one of them. I want to ask what it is you need?

I thought if the class wasn’t going well, I could just lie on my yoga mat in the middle of the studio and, at least, be around people for an hour. Knowing how accepting yoga is, I unrolled my yoga mat for a try.

This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which is dedicated to ensuring that impacted post-9/11 veterans, service members, and their families are thriving long after they return home.